Alert issued in Florida as tropical storm Elsa turns into hurricane

Tropical storm Elsa has now strengthened into a hurricane and is headed towards Florida’s northern Gulf coast.

According to news agencies on Wednesday morning, ravaging the Caribbean and the Florida keys with strong winds along with incessant rainfalls the tropical storm Elsa has now strengthened into a hurricane. Before regaining its hurricane status back ahead of the Florida landfall, earlier on Tuesday, Elsa weakened into a tropical storm near Cuba, citing met department officials familiar with the development, as per a report released by The Hindustan Times.

Citing the national weather service, according to the Associated Press, at an incredible speed of up to 75 mph hurricane Elsa is headed towards Florida’s northern Gulf coast. At the mouth of Tampa Bay along with the Steinhatchee River in Florida’s Big Bend area, an alert has been issued for the coastline keeping the hurricane in view.

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As per the AP report, due to the shallow offshore waters the region is highly vulnerable to a storm surge and might take a hard hit from the storm overnight, The report quoted Florida governor Ron DeSantis as saying.

According to the forecasters, if Elsa passes at high tide over normally dry land in the Tampa Bay area, the storm surge could reach a possible limit of five feet.

Anytime from 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. (US time) today, Elsa is projected to make landfall possibly somewhere in between these areas in Florida. According to AccuWeather, on Wednesday the hurricane Elsa was located about 100 miles south-southwest of Tampa Bay Florida at 5:30 am IST.